India has won toss elected to bat first. Rohit and Rahul gave India the perfect start they needed. Bangladesh bowlers took a while getting used to the conditions, and offered plenty of hittable balls, with Rohit in particularly damaging form, pulling Mashrafe Mortaza and launching Saifuddin over extra-cover for big sixes in the first six overs.
Bangladesh could have dismissed him in between, for 9, but Tamim dropped a sitter at deep square leg when he miscued a pull off Mustafizur. Rohit brought his fourth hundred of the tournaments which help India to score 314.
Bangladesh did not have a good start and they did manage to get a small partnership but not big enough one. The first 4 stands all crossed 30 but could not quite get convert into at least a 75 or a 100. The Saifuddin-Sabbir partnership did try hard but by then the game had gone out of grasp. A special mention to Shakib Al Hasan.
His team has bowed out but he fought another battle, but could not quite go through. Looking at the margin of defeat, if he had got a century, who knows, Bangladesh might have still been alive. Please stay tuned for the presentation…
315 may not have been a huge target to chase but India was superb on a slow track. Bhuvneshwar and Bumrah were excellent with the new balls and then Shami started well, though he went for plenty towards the end.
The pick of the bowlers was Hardik Pandya, who kept on taking wickets at crucial intervals and ended up with 3 scalps. Bumrah took 4 wickets, coming right at the end to seal the berth in semis.s
India became the second team after Australia to qualify into the semis and sadly for Bangladesh, they are out of the tournament. They tried hard, but India was too good.
Virat Kohli | India Captain:
Bangladesh played some really good cricket in the tournament but is happy that India made it through. On the 5-bowler strategy, Virat praises Hardik Pandya who has shown immense maturity in coming back stronger and performing better under pressure, which increases the confidence in a skipper.
On the team changes for this game, Kohli says that they were made due to the boundary dimensions of this ground and wants his side to be flexible. On Rohit’s form, VK smiles and calls him the best ODI player in the world. Adds that if he plays well, India will get a big total. Hopes to play three more games and see two more big scores from Sharma.
On Bumrah’s bowling, Virat says that the first few overs went for runs but the champion bowler that he is, bounced back superbly. On anything left to be reached in the final league game, Kohli says that perhaps the only thing he would wish is for the team to continue its good efforts and maybe score that extra 20-30 runs at the death with the bat.
Mashrafe Mortaza | Bangladesh captain:
Disappointed with the loss but praises his team for trying hard. Admits that his team could not forge big partnerships and wishes at least one of those could have been an 80 or 90 which would have been match-winning.
Agrees that Bangladesh did play better than the tournament points table suggests. On Rohit’s dropped catch, Mash puts it aside and says that such things happen but also admits that the century did hurt them. Hopes to end the tournament on a good note.
Rohit Sharma | Man of The Match:
He says he had a great feeling at the start of the game. Tells it was a used pitch and hence he started slowly. In the first game, Rohit says the conditions were challenging and in the last game the pitch was slow and England bowled good slower balls. Says batting first, there was no scoreboard pressure.
Says he was lucky and tells fortune favors the brave. Tells the idea is to pressure on the bowlers once he is set. On being informed about him registering his fourth century in this World Cup, Rohit says that he leaves things happened in the past behind and takes every day as a new day.
Adds what has happened today has happened and now he is focusing on the next game.
